


Ashes, Ashes

by hallowed-vessels (hasbeenhotel)



Category: Epithet Erased (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Molly’s mom is kinda here and she dies so, i dont know if it counts for the warning but better safe than sorry, no proofreading it’s midnight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24656365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hasbeenhotel/pseuds/hallowed-vessels
Summary: A house burns. Molly’s whole world burns with it.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 30





	Ashes, Ashes

It was so hot. Who turned the heater on?

Molly twisted under her covers, still mostly asleep. Something smelled funny. It smelled like when they would go camping and make s’mores over the fire... Fire. Something was on fire. That was bad.

Her eyes shot open as the panic woke her up. She tossed her blanket off, quickly put on her bear hoodie, and went to investigate. A wave of heat hit her the second she opened her door, along with a harsh orange glow. She instinctively raised a hand to cover her eyes, shaking with panic and fear.

It was hard to breathe. The air was heavy with smoke. It burned her lungs and made her cough. Molly covered her mouth with her hand, trying to block out what she could.

“Momma! _Momma! _” She cried, “Where are you?!”__

__“Molly! I’m in the kitchen!”_ _

__She bolted to the kitchen door and tried to open it. The door handle twisted, it wasn’t locked, but the door wouldn’t budge. Molly slammed her body into it, trying desperately to open it. “Momma, it won’t open!”_ _

__“I know, sweetie, I know.” She could hear her mother’s voice from the other side of the door, soft, reassuring, somber. “Listen closely. Go get your sister, and go outside.”_ _

__“I don’t wanna leave you!” Molly sobbed, choking again on the smoke. She weakly pounded her shaking fists into the door._ _

__“It’s alright, I’ll be right behind you once I call the fire department. The phone’s just being-” Heavy coughs on the other side interrupted what she was saying. “Being slow right now. Go get your sister. I love you, Molly.”_ _

__She furiously scrubbed the tears away from her eyes. “Okay. I- I love you, too.” She didn’t want to leave, she wanted to stay and make sure her mother safely got out, but she had a job to do now. She had to go get Lorelai, had to trust her mom, had to be a big girl right now._ _

__So she gave one last glance at the door, and bolted to her sister’s room as fast as her legs could carry her._ _

__“Lorelai! Sis, get up!” She shouted, roughly pulling the blankets off of her sister and shaking her. Lorelai grumbled something and swatted at her, still fully asleep. Why, oh why did she have to be so hard to wake up?! “ _Wake up wake up wake up!_ ”_ _

__The plush bunny on the floor came to life, and started pulling at Molly’s legs. Shrieking, she kicked at it, managing to send it flying after a few tries. This night was just getting worse and worse- it was so hot and she couldn’t breathe and now she had to deal with her sister’s stupid epithet as well, it was so **overwhelming** it needed to **stop** or else her head was going to explode!_ _

__She grabbed at her sister, who had rolled over and put a pillow over her head to drown out Molly’s cries. She dug her nails into her sister’s arm and shook her as hard as she could. “You need to get up, there’s a _fire!_ Lori, please- please get up!”_ _

__All the cutesy animals on the fabric of Lorelai’s blanket stepped out of the fabric, becoming real, and not quite so cute. Molly screamed, a fresh wave of tears cascading down her face as they snarled and roared at her._ _

__She held out her hand to block them, and miraculously, they shrunk and disappeared into nothingness as they got close. With each one she somehow dispelled, she got more and more tired, until her knees were shaking, her own legs hardly able to support her weight anymore._ _

__The remaining summons circled her warily, screeching. The fire crackled and even though it wasn’t in the room yet, it felt like she was burning. Something collapsed. It was so **LOUD**._ _

__Molly screamed again and let go of her sister to clamp her hands over her ears. She crouched down by her sister’s bed, curled up and shaking. It was so loud- her head was hurting- she just wanted it to be quiet for two seconds so that she could _think_ and get her sister up and _get out_ -_ _

__And suddenly it was silent._ _

__She sighed, relieved. Her eyes fluttered. She needed to stay awake, she had to get out of here... She was so tired._ _

__Lorelai was awake. She was looking at Molly with surprise written on her face, mouthing something. Saying something? Molly couldn’t hear anything._ _

__She was too tired to stand up. She tried to speak, tried to communicate the danger to Lorelai, but her voice wouldn’t work. She turned her head, nodding to the fire visible outside Lorelai’s door, hoping that she’d catch on._ _

__The look of surprise and awe turned into one of sheer horror. Lorelai grabbed Molly, scooping her up into her arms, and as she touched her, her voice suddenly cut in. “-rry I didn’t want to wake up, Molly, please forgive me. Um, um, we need to go, we’ve got to get out, um- window!”_ _

__She stumbled over to the window and tried her best to slide it open without dropping Molly, and looked out to the ground below. Lorelai looked between the fire and the fall, worry written over her face as she tried to determine which was more dangerous._ _

__She looked out the window and down at the grass. “Okay, um, hold on really tight. I’m gonna do something stupid. Don’t let go of me.” Molly nodded silently, gripping to Lorelai’s own hoodie as hard as she could with how tired she was._ _

__Lorelai climbed onto the windowsill, hugged her little sister tight and covered her eyes, and then she jumped out._ _

__The impact sent Molly flying out of her sister’s arms. She landed on the grass and rolled a little bit. It didn’t hurt, thankfully. If it had hurt, she probably would have just curled up and cried for hours._ _

__Sound cut back in. She could hear the end of her sister’s pained scream, and immediately tried to scramble to her feet to check on her, only to slip and fall again. Falling hurt this time._ _

__“Molly-” A small hiss of pain, and uneven footsteps as her sister limped over. “Are you okay?” She asked breathlessly._ _

__“I think.” She tried again to stand up. Lorelai gave her a hand and helped to pull her up._ _

__Still holding onto her hand, Lorelai began to pull Molly a little further away from the house, until neither of them could move any further. The two sisters collapsed onto the grass together, holding onto each other and quaking as they turned their gazes back to the burning house. “Thank you for waking me up, I- ...Molly, you saved me.”_ _

__“Momma said to.” Molly whispered back. “She said she’d be right behind us.”_ _

__Lorelai wordlessly pulled Molly’s head into her shoulder, letting her bury her face and look away from the fire._ _

__“Lorelai! Lorelai, Molly, thank goodness you’re both safe!” Molly heard her father’s voice and tried to pull away from her sister, but Lorelai held her tight and she didn’t have the strength to fight. She felt his arms briefly wrap around them, before pulling back. “Where’s your mother?”_ _

__“She’s still inside.” Lorelai explained breathlessly. “She told Molly to get me and get out- she’s still _in there_ , dad, you gotta go get her!”_ _

__“You girls stay right here, okay?! Don’t move!” Footsteps thundered away, accompanied by the sound of her father screaming her mother’s name as he charged back to the house._ _

__Molly buried her face in Lorelai’s sleeve and cried. Lorelai rocked them both back and forth, trying to be reassuring. “I’m here, Molly, I’m here.” Is all she could say._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Hope ya’ll enjoyed this lovely dose of suffering! Just my take on what might have happened with the death of Molly’s mom.


End file.
